500,000 pigs in Chile left to starve

500,000 pigs at a slaughtering company have been abandoned and left to starve, as there is no supply of food and water. The dying pigs were left to starve as employees fled the plant when on Thursday residents protested against the plant due to the bad odour from the pigs. Reports stated that they have complained about the odour for months. The locals then shut off access roads to the slaughtering site and plant workers were unable to access the plant. Chile has therefore announced a health alert at the site in Freirina, where the plant is. "Because of the road closures from Thursday onward the animals have stopped receiving food, there is no sanitation, their waste is not being disposed of and we understand there is high mortality among the animals, particularly the young piglets," Health minister Jaime Manalich said. Agrosuper, the firm that owns the plant, has admitted that there were problems with the ventilation system of the plant.